Comments on: Reader Mailbag: Easter Eggshttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/
Financial talk for the rest of usTue, 14 Oct 2014 16:18:02 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0By: SLCCOMhttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945952
Tue, 26 Apr 2011 23:32:26 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945952Q6: there is an alternative to getting a new apartment where the good job is: rent a room in someone’s house. Better yet, see if you can live with a senior who needs some help around the house in exchange for a room 5 nights a week.

Don’t quit the good job for a start-up!!!! They go under so fast,and then what? I would consider consulting (for a nice fat fee) for the start-up company and see where it goes from there.

Pawn shops have nice ring sets that can be easily resized. But no, a ring is not a requirement to get married.

]]>By: BarbaraBhttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945931
Tue, 26 Apr 2011 20:08:02 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945931Q5. My 88 year old dad was lamenting this weekend about not being able to go mushroom hunting since he lost his eyesight. He really misses having a mess of morels fried up for dinner. There’s no way he’d pay the going rate for them.
]]>By: Angelahttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945907
Tue, 26 Apr 2011 17:08:31 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945907Q#3 I consider myself a super-couponer. Although I have only seen clips of the Extreme Couponing show, I have read much about it. As in everything in life, there needs to be a balance. What works for one person’s life, may not work for anothers. The other week I bought $48 worth of groceries for only 31 cents although it doesn’t work out that well all the time. I only buy what I know my family can and will use. Having an extra stockpile makes it possible for me to donate things to my kids’ school, our church or anything else that may come up. I love being able to do this. I probably spend two hours a week getting all my coupons together and matching up coupons with deals and sales. It’s a game to me but one that has lots of benefits.
]]>By: Nicolehttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945898
Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:30:05 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945898Re: beer: I wonder if what the OP is getting at is not the cost of the beer, but the value of it. In that case I think the judgmentalism comes in first not on his end or Trent’s end, but on the end of people who think that the beer is better simply by virtue of being more expensive — especially if it’s actually very average beer that has been marked up to match the image of the venue. My dad’s the connoiseur in the family, and I have a feeling that he’d agree that the degree of difference between a five-dollar craft beer and an eight-dollar craft beer is a lot less than between either beer and the cheapest swill available commercially. There are also certain beers he doesn’t buy until, as he puts it, “someone at the store went insane” or got fired and wanted to leave a nice parting gift for the manager. I don’t think those beers taste worse when on sale. To summarize: if you drink eight-dollar beer because that is your favorite and nothing else will do, by all means, go for it. If you’re drinking it to conspicuously blow some money for the perception of status, that’s a different thing…and if that’s the case, appealing to that sense of highbrow superiority might just make them intrigued enough to switch beers (assuming he’d rather not switch friends).

@ Hannah: I agree about the space, but not the cooking. If I want to have healthful produce on hand and want it to last, it basically has to be frozen; I have tried with fresh ingredients and stuff almost inevitably spoils before I can use it, which is not cheap. But while frozen food can be had for a dollar or two a bag, I have a tiny freezer and can’t fit that much. Unfortunately I cannot just run to the grocery store every day either depending on where I have to be and the logistics of getting around. Eating out is something I have grudgingly grown to accept as an accomodation, and try not to do so extravagantly.

]]>By: deRuiterhttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945864
Tue, 26 Apr 2011 13:00:45 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945864Q2, British Air is NOTORIOUS for tacking on a “fuel charge” and other “convenience” feest to every so called free ticket. BA is the worst for scamming people this way. I have ff cards with several airlines and none of them ding you the way BA does. I’ve dumped my BA card because of them gouging you for the fuel surcharge. Every airline must charge you the fees on a free ticket, but BA adds the fuel surcharge when all other airlines do not. You will have sticker shock when you try to get your “free” ticket from BA.
]]>By: Johannahttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945860
Tue, 26 Apr 2011 12:30:39 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945860Q6: In addition to what everybody else said (either get an apartment closer to your job or a job closer to your apartment, quit whining about the bad taste in your mouth, and start acting like a grown-up), I take issue with Trent’s notion of what makes a “sensible” woman.

I think a woman can be perfectly sensible and still be concerned about a partner who can’t (or chooses not to) afford to spend more than 50 cents on an important symbolic gift. Particularly if it’s accompanied by a promise that ten years from now he’ll have his financial head on straight, but he shows no evidence of moving in that direction.

]]>By: Dianehttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945837
Tue, 26 Apr 2011 02:57:40 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945837Q1: Very, VERY bad idea. I am self-employed and have never been without insurance. I am thin, healthy, exercise, don’t smoke and have no chronic conditions. I take no medications. My parents are in the 70’s and take no medications nor do they have any chronic conditions. I am the poster child for someone who doesn’t need insurance.

Until one day I wasn’t.

Two years ago I had a condition that was very treatable through surgery, and correctable. But it was dangerous while it was happening and cost me >$80K in surgery fees. I still paid $12K out of pocket. I could afford $12K. I could not afford $80K. Through insurance I also had the choice of the best doctors to address my condition.

If you are self-employed, you NEED insurance. period. You could lose everything you have – and ALSO not have options for good care when sick if you don’t. Don’t be stupid.

]]>By: valleycat1http://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945835
Tue, 26 Apr 2011 01:21:45 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945835#42 & for Q6 re marriage – you don’t have to have an engagement ring or rings with diamonds, to get married. Although I wouldn’t go so far as a vending machine ring – you can get very nice gold wedding bands for a reasonable amount of $. (Trent overdoes the choice of two options sometimes. I’m sure he’d say for shock value, but he never tempers it with suggesting an half-way choice.)

However, I agree with the others that you need to stay in the town where the current better paying job is,& get your finances in order – & hold off on getting married. The commute is crazy & downgrading your job to relocate is the same. What if things don’t move forward with the girlfriend – wouldn’t you kick yourself for sacrificing there? She’s said she’ll give you some time, so use it!

]]>By: Kellyhttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945828
Mon, 25 Apr 2011 23:04:43 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945828Q1: For hanging out with friends, can you just have everyone over to our house, and everyone brings one snack or food for a dinner? You could play board games, watching sporting events, or just talk to each other?
]]>By: Justinhttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945816
Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:57:28 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945816I’m glad not everything is strictly “this is how to save money here” or “this is where you should invest”.

That stuff gets old- I know a lot of people still don’t get it, but I like that Trent relates every day kinda stuff to finances.

]]>By: Camhttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945807
Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:12:07 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945807Re: Q1, an option for the free events is to show up early. Pack a picnic and hang out for an hour or two before the performance starts.
]]>By: mariehttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945806
Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:10:41 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945806For Question 1, it’s hard to understand why you can’t entertain at home because you don’t give details on your living situations. If you are for example renting a room or something like that and have limited access to the kitchen/rest of the house, then I can understand more where you are coming.

However, if you have at a minimum a bachelor apartment of 200 sq ft or anything larger, you should be able to have people over. Maybe get a folding table and extra chairs that you can put in a closet/storage locker that you can bring out when you have company or get furniture that is more compact. Get a kettle/coffee maker and pick up baked goods from the grocery store that you can freeze and heat up when you have guests.

Also, it can be hard to entertain in a bachelor because everything is open and its harder to ‘hide’ your mess. This shows the importance of keeping the place tidy and uncluttered.

As for cooking/groceries, cooking at home is pretty much always cheaper. Cooking for one IS tough and gets some getting used to, but it is worth it. If you dislike your tiny kitchen, try cooking once or twice per week only and get some pyrex containers to freeze leftovers in individual portions that you can heat up like frozen entrees. Also, if living alone you can have things like pb & j, cereal, grilled cheese at any time of the day just like in college because you only have to feed yourself. For things like soup, its easier to just buy canned than making a big pot that will be a pain to freeze etc. Make sure you have a toaster, kettle, microwave and blender. Also, if you are trying to eat healthy then its easy to pick up veggies and fruits every 2 or 3 days so you always have just what you need and it doesn’t take a lot of room.

Obviously when looking for advice online, stay away from things like big containers of stuff, and bulk packages because in small apartments they take a lot of room and go to waste.

]]>By: LeahGGhttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945793
Mon, 25 Apr 2011 20:34:20 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945793While I don’t think an engagement ring should cost thousands of dollars, I think a vending machine ring is not realistic either. I know a few couples who got gold rings with cubic zirconia with the understanding that they’d upgrade the same ring to a diamond when they were doing better. That way you have a nice ring for under $300. You can also get a quarter of a carat diamond ring for that price range. My engagement ring is 20 points (1/5 carat) and I think it’s gorgeous because the setting is really nice.
]]>By: jimhttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945790
Mon, 25 Apr 2011 20:28:16 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945790Q1 Lizzie : You need to shop around more for health insurance. There should be more than 2 options available to you. (I’m assuming you don’t have special health considerations that you didn’t mention)

Q3 : I wonder if Trent is talking about the same TV show? Trent says: “no one seemed to reveal how much they were actually saving” If you watch the show called Extreme Couponing on TLC then the amount they save is definitely something they talk about a lot. They repeatedly say exactly about exactly how much the bills cost and how they save 95%-99% and paid $50 for $1200 of groceries or whatever the exact #’s are. They show the receipts. Its a major part of that show.
I have watched the Extreme Couponing show a couple times. I don’t recall seeing anything that I’d consider fraud or rude behavior.

Q6 : I don’t think that getting married right away is the solution to all your problems. It may just make things worse. Right now you have to decide if you want to keep the higher paying job in the city or move back home for lower pay. You could pay more for get another apartment in the city to reduce your commute and travel home on weekends, or you could live with lower pay and have no commute. I’d involve your girlfriend to see which she prefers. Maybe she wants to see you more as her #1 priority and maybe she isn’t as concerned with the debts. Maybe she is busy herself and ok with seeing you all weekend and thinks you need to get your finances in shape. Your girlfriend’s opinion matters more than the opinion of strangers on the interweb.

Q8 Fraser : I disagree with Trents advice to say you prefer homebrews. Thats just a diversion. Use open honestly. Tell your friends you want to save money for whatever your goals are. Are your friends calling you a cheapskate in other circumstances? Or is it ONLY when they want to go out and you balk at the high cost of $8 beers? If $8 beers are normal in your town and you and your friends have healthy incomes then they are likely just giving you a hard time cause they want you to go out with them. How about you go out and just drink free water or a $3 coke and be the designated driver? Or if your friends are just total spendthrifts and call you a cheapskate for anything and everything then there will be no easy convincing them that you’re not a cheapskate. If they’re the spendthrift and you’re normal then they’re wrong and you’re right. You can’t just fix that. Or maybe you are a cheapskate and they’re normal.

Plus, even more than a parent not wanting their daughter to marry somebody in Chris’s situation, there’s absolutely no evidence that the girlfriend wants to marry somebody in his situation!

Right now, the only thing we know about her is that she’s giving him time to get his finances in shape – “She has said before she’s willing to wait for me to get my finances squared away, but she doesn’t think she can wait a decade”

My own instinctive reading of that is that if he doesn’t get his finances squared away, she’ll seek a different relationship, because that makes more sense to me (possibly because of my own biases) than reading this as him insisting he wants to be financially secure but her wanting to get married now. And if she’s ‘sensible,’ as Trent mentions, she’ll turn down the cheap ring and/or an expensive one until Chris has things more figured out.

]]>By: Squirrelershttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945781
Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:52:21 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945781For Q8, I see nothing wrong with very nicely communicating in some way that $8 beers are too expensive for you, and you’d rather not spend that kind of money. It’s honest, and shouldn’t be an issue for anyone who has a sense of money. If they think you’re a cheapskate because you won’t spend $8 on a beer, who cares? You’re not doing anything wrong by choosing how you spend your own money, let them reevaluate their own perspectives.
]]>By: Sonjahttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945778
Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:16:10 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945778Q6: Chris has lots of debt, a long commute, unsure about his best career moves and can’t buy a ring. Trent advises Chris to marry the girlfriend and combine incomes. That girlfriend is someone’s daughter. Would you want your daughter to marry someone in Chris’s situation? He needs to sort himself out before he makes a lifelong commitment.
]]>By: Lisehttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945775
Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:43:35 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945775Regarding Q5: I collected morels as a kid, though I haven’t done it as an adult. I learned what they looked like from my dad, who probably learned it from his Italian grandmother. Morels are nice because they are very easy to identify and difficult to confuse with anything poisonous. Chanterelles, I hear, are the same.
]]>By: Deehttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945772
Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:30:00 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945772Q6: Long Commute Question

You need to move closer to your $66k job. You have too much debt to take a huge pay cut, especially when your girlfriend/future wife could lose her job.

Your debts are $1,300 a month right now. That’s before you eat, pay rent or drive one mile. I like the suggestion others made of moving halfway. An hour isn’t that much of a drive (though I live in California so that’s my perspective). Taking on the amount of debt you did limits the choices you have. It may not have been entirely your fault, but that doesn’t so much matter now.

]]>By: Marlehttp://www.thesimpledollar.com/reader-mailbag-easter-eggs/#comment-945770
Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:16:35 +0000http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6973#comment-945770Q6: You can’t keep up with a 4-5 hour commute every day. Just can’t. Either get a new job or a new apartment.

I think Trent focused on marriage because it seems that the letter writer’s biggest problem with taking a lower paying job in his hometown is that he won’t be able to save for a ring. Trent’s advice eliminates that problem. However, while I agree with Trent that weddings and rings shouldn’t be expensive, I’m not so sure if that’s going to go over too well with the letter writer and his gf. From the tone of the letter, they seem pretty set that he needs a ring he has to save up for, and that mindset is hard to break. Also, if they’ve been talking about marriage after he gets his finances together, suddenly changing that to “now” might be a hard sell.

But, whether he gets married or not, he still needs to decide whether or not he wants to keep this job. Does he really like the job, or does he just want a job that he can save for a wedding ring with (which is a terrible idea, because either living long distance or being gone from the house the entire day are much worse for relationships than cheap rings). He also probably shouldn’t count on her moving with him. She didn’t in the first place, and she probably has a lease on her place that would be expensive to break. If I was him, I’d take the lower paying job and gradually talk to her about marrying cheaply.